News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-06-16
HOW 1T FEELS TO BE HANGED.
The Sensations of an Expert De-
scribed by Himseif-His Last Re
mark,

SPRINGER, n. M.-Theodore Baker,
who was hanged here for the murder
of Frank Unruh in Colfax County,
wished to be remembered as the one
American who was hanged twice for a
single crime. In conversation with the
Sam correspondent short time after he
had received word from Gov. Ross that
there was no hope for him, Baker said:
cit is not the pain that 1 fear at all.
[ have been hanged, and [ know what L
am talking about. What ails me is that
[ don't want to die, and 1 don't think
I ought to. Probably if you knew
| that in an instant you were to be blown
to nothingness, so that you could expert
ence no suffering whatever, you would
appreciate how l feel about it. As for
/ the mode of death, you can say that it is
as good as any other, and it don't need
to be too artistically done, either. Why
when they hanged me first down here by
| the railroad track | was scared half to
death. They had no modern appliances,
and l made up my mind that they were
going to give me terrible struggle OF 1t,
but it was nothing of the sort. The mob
swung me off from telegraph pole like
they would a log, and then one or two of
them pulled my legs. That isn't so al
mighty nice, but still it don't hurt as you
would think it would. [ must have
hung there ten or fifteen minutes before
the SheGiff and his posse found me and
cut me down. OF course by that time l
was unconscious, but I remembered
enough of what occurred to Danish any
fear that 1 might have of death on the
gallows. It's death in whatever form it
comes that object to. If 1 have got to
go had just as soon go by the rope as
by the bullet, and / had a good deal
rather go by the rope than by the knife
or by poison. You can say this much
for the information and comfort of all the
poor fellows who will have to swing
when I gone. Tell them to brace up and
take it easy. They are going to die cas-
ier deaths than three-fourths of the fat
old Judges who sentence them, and who
expect to die in their beds. There has
been altogether to much writing and
talking on the subject of the barbarity of
the gallows. Tn in favor of abolishing
capital punishment myself, but if man
must die, what's the use of being too
particular about the mode, so long as
you have got a good enough scheme
now?"
Later ON in speaking about his crime
and his two punishments, one by the
mob, and the other by the law, Baker
said: "Under all the circumstances my
crime was not murder, any way. [ had
become involved in a quarrel between
Unruh and his wife, and, foolish as that
was, it would have led to nothing more
if Unruh had not attacked me. [ had to
kill or be killed. The woman swore
against me in order to save herself. She
was scared to death because they
lynched me, and she was afraid that I'M
less somebody swung for the crime she
might be called on some dark night
But whether my crime was deliberate
murder or not think [ have been pun
ished enough. 1t is more than year
since the mob lynched me, and since
that time [ have lived with rope around
my neck all the time. As [ have said to
you, my sufferings when / was being
were greater than they were
when [ was hanging. 1t took me three
months to get over the effects of the
lynchiGg. Two or three times q day my
head would be in whirl, and [ would
lose all control of myself Then when
slept l would go through it again At
length, when I was brought to trial and
was convicted and sentenced to death, |
had the rope once more before me. The
anxiety about the trial, and later about
my appeals, has worn on me until my
nerves are in about as bad condition as
they We're when 1 was in the hospital at
Santa Fe, and the old complaint from
which | suffered when l was recovering
from the lynching has returned again. 1
havn't slept for months without hanging
by the neck through it all. Can you
imagine what it is to be conscious all the
time of dangling in that way? Asleep
Or awake I have a rope about my neck,
and know exactly how it feels. 1 think
have had enough of it, but as they
seem to think not in these parts l sup
pose l shall have to take some more. I |
an tell you, though, that 1 don't want |
anybody to bring me to life this time.
When go out tomorrow [ will know |
ust what is coming, and when [ tell the |
Sheriff to let me slide, [ will be the first |
nan in America who has lived year and |
} half to say that a second time to a
langman."
Baker had several warm friends here |
Who labored earnestly in his behalf, and |
Who regarded his punishment as unjust
Y severe. He went to the rope unfinch-
ngly, and just before the trap was
sprung, when the attendant shifted the |
mot little, he heard Baker say:
" That's right. | have been in the |
habit of having it little higher up"